Dark Matter Fortress

Lore & Background

Apokolips and its counterpart New Genesis were created after the destruction of Urgrund, the world of the 'Old Gods' (implied to be the gods of Norse mythology). While New Genesis was given strength and nobility from the 'living atoms' of the Old God Balduur, Apokolips was saturated with evil from an unnamed sorceress. The two planets are locked in an eternal war, symbolizing the struggle of evil and good on a grand mythic scale. Apokolips is ruled by a fell being known as Darkseid, a dark leader who rules over his downtrodden people by force and fear and killed his mother Heggra to obtain the throne. Both Apokolips and New Genesis were seemingly destroyed in a final battle prior to Grant Morrison's miniseries Seven Soldiers: Mister Miracle. However, the final issue of that series implied that the story's earlier events were merely visions seen by the hero as part of an elaborate test by the New God Metron. Using Boom Tube technology, Brother Eye arrives on Apokolips and seemingly assimilates the entire planet. Before the assimilation is fully complete, the Pied Piper intervenes and channels the Anti-Life Equation through his flute. This destroys much of Brother Eye, causing it to flee and reverting much of Apokolips to normal. At the end of the Death of the New Gods miniseries, with all the gods now dead, the combined entity born from the melding of the Source and the Anti-Life Equation merges Apokolips and New Genesis into a single planet. In the 30th century, original Legion of Super-Heroes continuity, Apokolips is inactive and Darkseid is incapacitated. In the reboot Legion continuity, Darkseid was aged and dying, with the planet mostly uninhabited, but the center of a large cult. In DC continuity following its 2011 Flashpoint event and the launch of its New 52 line of comics, the DC Multiverse remains composed of 52 worlds, but only one set of New Gods. Darkseid and his army from Apokolips have attempted to invade Earth-0, or Prime Earth, but are repelled by the first incarnation of the Justice League. At the same time, his armies invaded the alternate Earth of Earth-2 under the aegis of Steppenwolf, which was much more successful. The invasion of Earth-2 cost the lives of that universe's original Superman, Batman, Catwoman, Wonder Woman and millions of humans, including Earth-2's Lois Lane, who married Superman on that world. Ultimately, Apokolips itself enters Earth-2's Solar System and consumes Earth-2, transforming the planet into fuel to sustain itself. When Perpetua destroys the Source Wall, one of the side effects is that Apokolips simply vanishes. With Apokolips gone, Darkseid plans to use the Ghost Sector to create a New Apokolips which he will use to invade and conquer the Multiverse.

In Their Own Story

The planet looms in another dimension, a world of fire pits and endless labor. Hunger Dogs shuffle through the filth-strewn districts of Armagedda, while Parademons patrol the skies above Armagetto, the planet's one city and capital. Deep below, in the Necropolis, the lifeless forms of the Old Gods live on, known as the Dreggs. Darkseid sits in his palace, attended by his counsellor DeSaad, while Granny Goodness trains children at her orphanage in the Night-Time Zone. The Garden of Hope stands as the only beautiful place on Apokolips, where the precognitive Pythia resides and guards Darkseid's oracle. Darkseid tends to visit this area when he gets stressed out.

Reader's Guide

Apokolips is a large planet covered entirely by a city (an ecumenopolis). It is a notoriously dismal place, where Hunger Dogs (low-class citizens) labor to feed the pits that supply light and power to the world. The population includes many kidnapped from other worlds before being 'broken'. The majority are called Lowlies or Hunger Dogs, a bald and fearful race whose members have no sense of self-worth or value, and yet, in their own way, are just as much gods as those who rule the planet. The Lowlies are subject to constant abuse that ends only with death. Next are the Parademons, who serve as the keepers of order on the planet. Higher above the Parademons are the Female Furies, Darkseid's personal guard. They are either trained for their position in the Furies from birth, or are promoted from the ranks of general Apokoliptian troops. The leaders of the Furies are Granny Goodness and Kanto, with Kanto serving as Darkseid's master assassin. Deep below Armagetto, the lifeless forms of the Old Gods live on, known as the Dreggs. Apokolips is ruled by Darkseid, but delegates most matters to his counsellor DeSaad. Because it exists in another dimension outside of the multiverse, Apokolips is primarily accessed via Boom Tubes. It has been said that the New Gods are normally giants, and that travel through the Boom Tubes rescales them to mortal proportions. The size difference varies; Supergirl found herself confronted with Apokoliptians the size of skyscrapers, while Superman found that entire planets from his universe fitted in his hand while on Apokolips. Apokolips is on par with New Genesis in terms of technological advancement. With their technology, they are the height of power in most of the universe and are able to devastate galaxies when they choose to use it. Technology from Apokolips is sometimes on par with the technology used by Brainiac. Apokoliptian technology was used by Bruno Mannheim and his organization Intergang in the Superman comics. It was a deal between Darkseid and Metron which was the cause of the invention of the 'Boom Tube' using 'Element X', which could only be found on Apokolips. The 'Entropy Aegis' armor, used by Steel to defeat Imperiex, was Apokoliptian technology, as was Dmitri Pushkin's second suit of Rocket Red armor.

Did You Know?

• Apokolips was saturated with evil from an unnamed sorceress after the destruction of Urgrund.
• Darkseid killed his mother Heggra to obtain the throne of Apokolips.
• The Pied Piper once channeled the Anti-Life Equation through his flute to destroy Brother Eye on Apokolips.
• Apokolips consumed Earth-2, transforming the planet into fuel to sustain itself.
• When Perpetua destroyed the Source Wall, Apokolips simply vanished as a side effect.